Integrity in Today’s World

Integrity. Boy there’s a word you don’t hear much anymore. Maybe you’re not even sure if you can remember what it means. Well, more than likely it’s something your grandparents were full of. Your parents probably still had their share of it, but if we jump to today’s generation we don’t see much of it at all. Are they to blame? Well not really because it seems that our generation are the ones who let it slide. Not necessarily by our own accord, we can blame laws that changed how we should punish our children. We can blame the legal system for letting criminals slip through with a mere slap on the hand. We can point fingers at just about any group of people and blame them–but the truth is, we’re all to blame.

What is integrity? Wikianswers gives this defininition:

It includes: sincerity, keeping one’s word and agreements, honesty, truthfulness, ethics, fairness and justice, punctuality and never faltering for what one believes in. A quote regarding integrity is ‘It is better to have an enemy who keeps his word, than a friend who does not.’

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_definition_of_integrity

Wikipedia gives this:

Integrity is consistency of actions, values, methods, measures and principles. Integrity may be seen as the quality of having a sense of honesty and truthfulness in regard to the motivations for one’s actions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrity

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosopy gives us this long read:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/integrity/

We’re going to discuss a few things regarding integrity:

• What is it really?
• Where did it go?
• Why it’s important.
• How do we get it back?

What is it really?

Integrity can be boiled down to one simple statement- Do the Right Thing
. To have integrity one cannot have room for greed or dishonesty. Obviously those traits are not considered doing the right thing. Integrity helps form character, or I should say ‘good character’. A person can have bad character and it’s still considered character. We need to focus on creating and maintaining good character and this comes from practicing integrity.

Should integrity be practiced? You bet cha’. Anything you do over and over becomes habit and integrity needs to be a habit, it needs to be a daily habit.

Where did it go?

You could probably search the world over and never discover exactly where integrity went. I do know this, it didn’t go into public office or higher government offices. It hasn’t gone into the corporate world. It didn’t go away over night, it’s just slowly leaked out of human character over time. We can blame degrading television programs, political correctness, lack of proper raising with our children because we were afraid we’d get locked up if we actually raised them right. The list can go on. Bottom line is there has been a steady decline in morals, values and integrity over time. Morals and values are important, but integrity would mean that you hold anothers morals and values in higher regard than your own when dealing with people–even if you disagree. Some people also call that respect.

Why it’s important.

Integrity is like the base foundation of a building. Everything stands on this foundation. If the integrity of a foundation is breached the whole building will eventually suffer and crumble. It’s the same way with integrity as a person. Without a solid foundation or integrity, the whole just doesn’t hold up as well. You eventually end up with what we see in corporate America today, and in government. Is integrity important? In light of where this country is headed and what we’re seeing today, I’d say it’s extremely important and if we don’t get it back soon, we may suffer a lot more.

I asked a friend why she thought integrity was important. Here’s her reply:

“Because in the end, aside from legalities, terms of service, and contractual agreements – a person’s base integrity is what sets them apart and builds trust in others. The best guarantee in the world is meaningless – if you don’t stand behind it.”

How do we get it back?

We have to build it into our foundation. When a cement mixer mixes cement he adds several components to the base product. One component makes it strong, one makes it set up faster in certain weather conditions, etc. We must start using integrity as our base ingredient. In doing this we can create a chain reaction in other people. We can’t expect others to change until we start making changes ourselves.

Conclusion:

We can get integrity back. It may not be an easy task, but it can be accomplished. It all begins within ourselves, holding others accountable for their wrong-doings, striving to make the world a better place, and not always turning the other cheek. Others should see the changes in us and want to mimic what we’ve accomplished. Eventually they would develop their own integrity and high standards.

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.” ~Abe Lincoln

Image courtesy: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/2665547587_b49c60dfe5.jpg

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